Letter from Bangalore: The India Story is Just Beginning.By Yeoh Siew HoonTuesday, 15th July 2014

Each time I return to India, I am reminded anew of the wonderful hospitality of the countryís luxury hotels, thereís really no beating that willingness to be of service thatís the hallmark of Taj hotels.

†Our event, the first WIT India, co-organised with the Singapore Tourism Board, was held at the Taj West End, a hotel built in 1905, the same year Einstein published his theory of relativity.

Oldest post box in Kartanaka state†Thereís nothing relative about the English colonial feel of the property. My room is in the heritage wing. To walk to my room, I have to walk past a letter box, which is reputed to be the oldest one with the Queenís crown in Karnataka state. It was one of 100 post boxes shipped out from Britain to start the Indian postal service.†I am told itís a working post box and so I send off a couple of post cards, something I havenít done in ages.†Last year, they also shut down the last remaining telegraph post in India.†In a country thatís leapfrogged the browser to the mobile device, there doesnít seem to be much need for telegrams.†From the discussions taking place at WIT India, industry players are taking huge bets that the next disruption will come from mobile and that this will bring swathes of Indians, beyond cities to countryside, online.†All taking big bets on mobile and hotels†Aloke Bajpai , CEO and founder of travel search engine, ixigo, just launched six apps for the rural areas and says heís getting amazing customer insights of a segment that wants to do everything online but so far hasnít had the access.

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